A few days before Christmas, a submersible journeyed all 27,480 feet down to the very bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench. The feat made U.S. private equity firm founder Victor Vescovo the first person to reach the deepest spot in the Atlantic Ocean, reports Rupert Neate at The Guardian.

It took Vescovo 2.5 hours to pilot his custom-built, $35 million Triton submersible, called the Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) Limiting Factor, to the true bottom of the trench, which was determined using a state-of-the-art sonar system, according to an expedition press release. While in the trench, the team believes Vescovo recorded or collected four deep-sea species new to science.

Vescovo has previously trekked to both the North and South Poles and climbed the highest mountain on each continent, including Mount Everest, a combo known as the “Explorer’s Grand Slam.” But that club is—relatively speaking—a little crowded, with more than 60 people having completed the feat. That’s one reason Vescovo decided to take to the water. The Puerto Rico Trench dive is the first leg of his latest challenge: to reach the lowest spot in each of the world's five oceans. He’s dubbed the feat, inaccessible to anyone without millions of dollars of resources, the “Five Deeps Expedition.”

Shell’s recent success in the US Gulf of Mexico includes its deepwater Dover discovery on Mississippi Canyon 612, reported last year, near its Appomattox platform. The well was drilled by the Deepwater Poseidon ultra-deepwater drillship. Sources: Shell, Transocean.

In lieu of the traditional shovel groundbreaking, Miami City Commission chair Ken Russell, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami city manager Emilio T. Gonzalez (pictured l-r) perform the ceremonial water toss to mark the start of the first Miami Forever Bond project tackling flooding and sea-level rise. (Photo by City of Miami Office of Communications)